The Influence of Print Advertisement Organization on Affect toward a Brand Name

Three experiments demonstrate that the allocation of subconscious resources during the processing of ads can influence the evaluation of the brand names or logos included in the ads. The evaluation of a brand name is shown to depend on its placement relative to the ad's focal information. Increases in brand name evaluation are attributed to matching activation--the elaborated processing of nonattended material in one hemisphere when the opposing hemisphere is the primary processor of the attended material. Implications for the design and layout of print ads and for the influence of advertising on purchase behavior are discussed.